(CNN) - Here are some of the most quotable sound bites from the Sunday morning shows:
On the fate of the tax package President Obama negotiated with Republicans:
"I think the Senate is going to take this bill up tomorrow, and we believe that when it comes back to the House, that we will get a vote, and that we'll prevail there, because at the end of the day, no one wants to see taxes go up on 150 million Americans on January 1st." - White House senior adviser David Axelrod, CNN's "State of the Union"

"I'm not going to presume what's going to happen in the House. We're counting votes in the Senate. Harry Reid and I have been on the phone over the weekend, and I can say that we have a good cross-section of the Senate Democratic Caucus, from left to right, who are prepared to accept this." - Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, "State of the Union"

"If the Democrats in the House scuttle this deal, we will - that will be the first thing we do, is prevent these job-killing tax increases. And we'll do it retroactively after the first of the year." - Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, incoming Chairman of the Budget Committee "Fox News Sunday"

"I think it's quite possible the tax cut extension will be passed, but not with my vote, and that's because there are two things that I look at with regard to this deal that the president has structured. One, does it saddle our children with debt and increase the deficit over the course of time, but more importantly, does it create jobs? What part creates jobs?" - Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, "State of the Union"

"I expect that they will ultimately get a way to get it through, by putting enough sweeteners in. They're adding all kinds of things. You look, it's getting thicker and thicker." - Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott, "State of the Union"

We passed the resolution in our caucus the other day saying that we would not permit this deal to come to the floor without some changes. How major those changes would have to be for members of our caucus to let it come to the floor, I don't know. I'd certainly hope that there are very major changes in this." - Rep. Jerrold Nadler, CBS's "Face the Nation"

"I understand the feeling that it's a bitter pill to swallow the high income tax cuts, but what the president was able to get that is substantially bigger than that and important for the economy –whether it's incentives for investments for firms, whether it's a payroll tax cut for 155 million workers, money for college education, et cetera - is really important, and we can't let that go away." - Austan Goolsbee, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, NBC's "Meet the Press"

"I think the entire House of Representatives on the Democratic side have said we're not going for this deal." - Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, "Meet the Press"

On the estate tax provision:

"In some form it will come to the floor of the House for a vote. House Democrats are being portrayed as people who haven't adjusted to the post-election reality, that we don't want to cut any deal at all. And there are some. There are some House Democrats who will refuse to go along with any deal. Most of us understand we've got to make some tough compromises. Most of us agree with almost all of what the president negotiated. There is one thing that just was the choking point, and that deals with the estate tax break." - Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, incoming ranking member of the Budget Committee, "Fox News Sunday"

"I think that the framework that was agreed to is the one that will be voted on tomorrow, and I think that that's the one that we're going to be working with." - Axelrod, "State of the Union"

"I think we're going to get strong support on both sides of the aisle. I respect people who are unhappy. We share their view on the upper-income tax cuts, on the estate tax. That was a part of the deal, odious though it may be, in order to accept, in order to get all the good things that come along with. That's the nature of compromise." - Axelrod, ABC's "This Week"

On whether a Democrat will challenge Obama in 2012:

"I can't predict. Obviously anybody can file for an office, but I see strong support among Democrats for this president. They understand that he's fighting hard, trying hard to move this country forward. They understand what we've accomplished already. The biggest lament I hear from Democrats is, 'You've done so much, how come people aren't responding better?' " - Axelrod, "State of the Union"

"There's no challenge. Look, everybody's on the same page. Everyone supports the same agenda. And there are some in the Democratic caucus that would never go along with any compromise." - Van Hollen, "Fox News Sunday"

"I don't think he's going to face an opponent in the Democratic primary. I think that would be a bad thing for the country, and I think it would be a bad thing for the Democratic party. The history of people running against presidents in their own party is the challenger loses and then the president is weakened and loses." - Former DNC chairman Howard Dean, "Face the Nation"

On a 2012 run:

"No way, no how." - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "Meet the Press"

On U.S. foreign policy:

"I think the main thing is that the Obama administration attention has been more on the Middle East with these immediate problems of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, the Middle East peace process. And I think these events in East Asia have made us realize that there are big United States interests out there, and we are going to have to provide steady leadership in more than one region of the world." - Dennis Blair, former director of national intelligence, "State of the Union"

On Supreme Court justices attending the State of the Union address:

"I'll go next year. I've gone every year. I think it's very, very, very important - very important - for us to show up at that State of the Union, because people today, as you know, are more and more visual. I'd like them to read, but they are visual. And what they see in front of them in that State of the Union is the federal government, every part - the president, the Congress, the cabinet, the military, and I would like them to see the judges, too, because federal judges are also part of that government." - Justice Stephen Breyer, "Fox News Sunday"

This is the first time in the Obama administration that the republicans have been actively trying to get something passed. They played the party of NO from day one and now they suddenly are agreeable. This is an opportunity that Obama is not going to see again, and he needs to take full advantage of it. Let there be no misconceptions that this will lead to some new era of bi-partisanship and cooperation. Ten seconds after the GOP gets their tax cut for the top 2% it will be back to the NO game.

December 12, 2010 03:05 pm at 3:05 pm |

Bill Flaherty

The President is the only person standing tall in Washington

December 12, 2010 03:14 pm at 3:14 pm |

Steve, New York City

I agree that this is a silly time to raise taxes. However, the Bush-era tax code (relatively speaking) OVER-TAXES the simply affluent, and greately UNDER-TAXES the super-rich (Gates, Buffet, Soros, Trump, etc.).
Unfortunately, many people are too stupid to understand that someone making $250,001 annually in gross income, living in New York City, Boston or Los Angeles, is NOT in the same category as Bill Gates or George Soros, and is NOT NEARLY as well off, as someone earning $99,999, but living in Fargo, Spokane, Tulsa or in Council Bluffs.

December 12, 2010 03:17 pm at 3:17 pm |

kyle

Why should we continue the same failed Bush tax cuts that didn't work then, and will not work now, the GOP are hypocritics on this one.

December 12, 2010 03:18 pm at 3:18 pm |

Louisiana Man

Go Dems, stand your ground. We are all tired of being a pawn in a chess game
.
Yes there are jobs being created–let us count the ways-
in China, Iraq, Afghanistan, India {all dictator countries] South America and numerous other foreign entries-

No jobs here because of the outsourcing and to add salt to the wounds, our beloved outsourcing capitalistic patriots were bestowed a tax break from their buddies in Congress. Oh the benevolence of our elected public officials is infinite.

And unlike Scrooge who is haunted by the spirits and denounces his evil, scandalous, greedy, gluttonous path-
our beloved, greedy capitalists are taken into the bosom of the GOP and are succulent and cradled against any intrusion of paying their fair share and are shielded against any true blame for the state of our country's jobless economy.

December 12, 2010 03:27 pm at 3:27 pm |

antonio

"There's no challenge. Look, everybody's on the same page. Everyone supports the same agenda. And there are some in the Democratic caucus that would never go along with any compromise." – Van Hollen, "Fox News Sunday" ???